JLPT December 2025

[shadnoise]

N2 was ok, think I got at least 50%. Vocab was definitely my weak point, which I guess makes sense because it formerly was my strong point and I turned to grammar focus for study instead because I did badly on grammar before. Gotta stay well rounded!

The guy sitting RIGHT NEXT TO me got red carded during break for opening his envelope to get his phone and spent the entire break arguing with the proctors about it. I was going to just chill in the room but I was getting stressed hearing him complain over and over how they didn’t say it clearly, they didn’t speak loud enough, etc. (And they definitely did, dude was right next to me.) Did not help that since he was murmuring with his friend sitting in front of me during the opening rules section, the proctors were hovering around my table.

They stopped hovering when he got kicked out for the listening portion, but then the guy in front of me’s phone must have had a vibration alarm or something because it was buzzing the entire time, just loud enough that I could hear it but quiet enough that the proctors didn’t. I definitely missed some of one of the questions because of the momentary panic of if it was somehow actually my phone. It kept buzzing in such a way that the audio of the questions mostly covered it up, but I definitely heard it, and I know it was him because he did that “look at your phone and look around sheepishly” type gesture when he took it out.

So no thanks to those two knuckleheads, but I do think I have a chance of passing, though definitely not close to perfect. Did really well understanding the reading though, so I’m happy about that.

[hudpro]

Brooo yeah I wasted some time cus I accidentally put my answers one behind cus I wrote my number 1 in the example box for a few of the sections

[souellette]

Took the N4; the actual test was easier than Bunpro’s practices in some ways. Grammar was definitely my weakest section. I’m hoping I passed T_T Either way I’m going to start prepping for the N3 test upcoming next summer.

I found the listening section in the actual test to be a lot easier than Bunpro’s. Which is nice because I was mainly practicing with Bunpro haha. I was also lucky and very close to the speakers in the test room.

Two of the people next to me kept writing after the listening portion concluded, and for quite a while…but the test proctor didn’t disqualify them or even say anything to them so ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌

[shadnoise]

Dude yeah this is the killer. When I failed the N2 last time I definitely suffered from a really bad night of sleep, once I got to the reading I realized I couldn’t absorb anything and I did my best but really struggled with the listening. If you bomb it don’t feel too bad, it happens, consider it a trial run to know what you gotta do for next time - try and not stress too bad, sleep well, and so on. And every use of Japanese is good study - even a test you don’t do well on. But that said if you did well on the grammar, and did well on other things, then you might still do alright.

[Houndstooth]

Of course, not weird in the slightest when some people are still taking/waiting to take the exam. A little strange (to me, personally) that they extend that secrecy indefinitely until the past tests are released as practice exams.

[kamuro_kaizaki]

Took this kinda on a whim as I just found out about the jlpt practice tests feature on this site. Going based off this would I be able to pass the n2 if I gave it a shot ? (Don’t plan to take anytime soon, just curious) (N3 LVL)

[bunnypro]

Give an N2 practice test a try and see!

[CuddleJumper]

Took the N1. As for the ongoing “can you piss” discussion, we were told if anyone needed to go during the first section they could but would be escorted to the bathroom. No disqualification issues here or problems with electronics. There were some desk issues, where they had one seat assigned per full table and then a bunch of extra tiny desks added throughout the room with way, way less space than the tables. Some were extra tiny, I got one, was digging into my gut. Some people asked if they could swap seat numbers and switch to the empty tables from the extra tiny desks. This was denied. Rather unfortunate since it was impossible to see your test booklet and answer sheet at the same time on them, but I borrowed the edge of an empty table next to me for extra space and the proctors were fine with it. Could’ve been worse.

As for the test itself: Vocab/grammar/reading felt a little hard but about what I expected, and I’m pretty sure I’d get a passing score if the listening didn’t matter and it was 67/120 to pass. But the listening does, and I felt like it went horribly so I have no idea honestly. Scored well last time when I was wondering if I failed it so I’ll just hope I scraped out the minimum on it and my reading score gives me any boost I need. Want the immigration points but I guess the difference between N1/N2 isn’t too big for job applications so I’m trying not to worry about it.

Edit: oh, and significantly harder than the Bunpro practice test I’d say. I took one of those a while back, got a high 70-something, 5X% on the listening and 8X% on everything else. Didn’t line up with my N2 results where listening was better than vocab/grammar, probably lines up with today

[virtualputeri]

I took N4 in Singapore yesterday. I took N5 previously so this wasn’t my first time, but for some reason it didn’t feel like a familiar experience for me 🥲

Reading up on everyone’s replies here, I was wondering what envelopes you folks were talking about because we didn’t have those! We still had to switch off our phones (and they really emphasised switching off, not putting it on silent) and keeping them in our bags, which had to be placed at the front of the classroom. This was the same for the July JLPT as well, but for some reason during the break, there were some people who walked out of the classroom with their bags and the proctors didn’t say anything about it None of the examinees in my classroom got disqualified so it was quite a peaceful and quiet time, other than a few hiccups where a handful forgot to write down their registration number and stuff haha.

It was also confusing that examinees were allowed to stay in the classroom during breaks, when previously we couldn’t. The audio instructions did mention we had to leave the classroom, so I’m not sure why the proctors said otherwise.

Queuing up to enter the building was also a mess… A single queue became two queues that ended up merging back into one halfway. There was no one around to guide the examinees, it was so strange. Not as organised as my previous time 😵‍💫

Overall N4 was pretty alright. Listening was strangely quite difficult for me, it’s usually my strong point but I also have the tendency to zone out easily which really could make or break it

I am thankful that things weren’t as strict here in Singapore. Even during the previous JLPT an examinee’s phone started vibrating, but the proctor allowed them to continue after they had to turn off their phone. They did try to justify and said, “I put it on Do Not Disturb,” and stuff like… Just let it go buddy, they’ve already let you off easily

Hopefully things go well for us all. The hard part is finally over

[maxwindiff]

I took N2 in California today. I think I did alright except for the part where you are asked which sentence out of 4 used a particular vocabulary the best. They all seemed the same to me…

[Raya]

i did the n3 yesterday in gold coast! i got pretty stressed i did the 5 practice tests for n3 on bunpro but i still felt uncomfortable. is it normal to feel like its out of your reach or maybe i just need to work harder then. hopefully i pass but if i do fail i will do it again. but i was curious weather its normal to feel that way that its in your hands but also you are like not holding it. i want to reach n1 and i want to improve as fast as possible but i do lack my speaking skills and my writing is lower than n3 it could be why i had issues. any advice would be great. i really aspire to move to japan and seeing my progress be so 50/50 it kinda makes me fustrated ( i did n4 but i tanked listening because i never did a n test before) but i can say i understood n3 better than when i did n4 which means im asuming i got better then the gap of n4 then the gap for n3 (did n4 in july) but i do hope i can get n1 if you have great strats or ways to excel i would love to hear it. and crazy methods are welcome too i dont mind melting my brain and seeing progress in 3 months.

[dfloyd]

I’m estimating I got 15 out of 28 on listening as a worst case scenario, would that still be enough to squeak by assuming the other parts were good?

[Minh_Nguyen]

Oh man, I dont know how to say this, but I think language learning need times and consistency. Always. I was one of the “N1 in a year kind of guy”, and after one good year (I do learn Japanese everyday, not like a lazy person at all), I barely passed N3 with 122/180. At this point, I have long abbandon the N1 in 1 year goal. And approach N2 slowly, and trying to read more than just vocab/grammar. And it get better, cramming sound awesome (I’ve been there) but to be honest, to pass N1 confidently, you need to have a grip of 12000 vocabs, 1000 grammar points, at least 2200 kanjis. It just take time. I am now also working toward N1 goal and will be at the July 2026 exam, but I am not very confident. All in all, I think learning Japanese of all language really need a long term strategy.

[Minh_Nguyen]

That could be enough, U only need 19/60 to not fail a section, assumming other part is good 70%+, the total should be enough for 50% overall.

[jrmr50]

Who was the guy from Alaska taking the test in Hawaii? I was thinking of them as I trudged through grey and drizzly London to SOAS.

My write up for what it’s worth, mainly to collect my own thoughts and reflections

London N3.

The phone etiquette was immaculately observed, I’d expect no less in Britain

N3 exam was fair I think.

Vocab was generally fine, a few things I’d not seen in a while or haven’t seen before, which after memorizing so many words is a bit frustrating, but there we are, had a guess based on the kanji’s likely meaning.

Grammar was fair again - star questions aside. I really felt m the time pressure there and realized I was getting bogged down, 1 or 2 aside mainly guessed and marked with a ? to return to at the end with my extra time (lol didn’t happen).

Reading was pretty good actually - I felt like the potential answers were straight-forward and didn’t use any ‘tricks’ to flip the meaning at the end of the sentence - I think, I mean, it’s head down and blast through time. Even though I had time at the end, I think due to fatigue and only having a smidge of time left, just couldn’t get the last one - narrowed it down to two options and had a guess.

Listening. Even though it’s my weakest, I felt able to relax a bit, at least it’s on rails and you don’t have to worry about timing. My mini-strategies worked quite well and I think I’ve done enough - the last couple of sections are always a bit of a dice roll for me, there’s such a variety of daily life scenarios and expressions that I don’t encounter as a remote learner.

Afterwards I felt very circumspect.

Taking (and hopefully passing) N3 mark has been a big milestone since I started learning Japanese seriously almost five years ago. When I started, as a beginner it marked the point at which someone would be ‘proficient’ and could use the language. I mean I now know that’s not true, but I can definitely do some of the things I wanted to be able to in the beginning: read books, listen to podcasts, make self-deprecating comments and do impressions of my teenage kids in conversations with Japanese people to make them laugh. Ok that last one has been a bonus along the way.

Well, now I’m just procrastinating as I’ve got the day off work and a big revision sized hole to fill!

Well done everyone, pass or ‘defer success to the future’ , it’s finally done!

[chesarka]

• “Envelopes” for my venue (Melbourne) were resealable sandwich bags (the kind I already had in my bag to hold some of my snacks, but bigger and, of course, with the examinee number on them).
• When I first did N2 in 2022, I got (nicely) kicked out by the proctors during the break, so I kicked myself out this time out of habit.
• Queueing in my venue’s case was easy - we had a hallway to ourselves.
• Everything felt a bit messier and later than usual this session, probably because they implemented the anti-cheating methods.

As for how I went…I didn’t double-check everything of the self-paced part (I tried to go slower than I usually do and only just managed to double back for some of the difficult reading questions), so I’m not totally sure how this will turn out - the practice tests I did (including some which were rendered unusable through not having all the diagrams, questions and such) say I have a 57% chance of passing, which is not great when scaling is still a factor. Many of the listening questions I had sure answers to (which can’t be said for every time), but I did find myself zoning out thrice as well.

At this point, I’m just hoping for a pass mark…

[TomJapan]

Hi, I took the N3 in France yesterday and it seemed most participants found the Reading section quite challenging. We all felt we didn’t have enough time. I’m worried my first attempt won’t be as good as I hope. Perhaps I spent too much time revising N4 (which I passed a few years ago but then put aside) and not enough time reading at the N3 level. It was good to try though. Let’s wait until the end of January to see how it goes.

[burgerkingler]

There was only 50 N2 seats in the entire state of Texas per year, which is absolutely insane

I feel like I did so poorly that if I somehow passed by the grace of God, then that reflects poorly on the test itself lol. I’ll take the rest of the month of from grinding and take the time to read some manga I’ve been neglecting. I’m really looking forward to taking the test again next year and seeing how much easier it will be then.

[keli13]

exactly how i felt - difficult to concentrate, ran out of time on the reading, made educated guesses for most of the listening (that part was so hard!!). i felt that the readings were easy to understand, but the comprehension questions were incredibly difficult and nuanced. N1 was tough but hopefully we put up a good fight!! and if not, now we’ll know what to expect and what we need to work on.
お疲れ様でした！

[chrispthompson]

I so agree that the Listening on N4 was way easier than Bunpro at first… but didn’t you feel that the second half was harder? The three-option single responses were actually way trickier than I ever felt they were on the practice tests.

The first section of the listening is the thing I’m least confident on the whole test, and it went so well for me… I couldn’t believe how tripped up I got at the very end.